PUERTOLLANO, Spain, Sept 15, 2009 (AFP) – Germany’s Andre Greipel of Team Columbia dominated a bunch sprint to win the 16th stage of the Tour of Spain on Tuesday as Alejandro Valverde retained the race leader’s gold jersey.

Greipel soloed over the finish line of the 170km stage between Cordoba and here with his arms in the air in triumph after leaving his sprint rivals for dust in the closing meters.

Moments earlier a crash halted the progress of the main peloton as several wound up the speed in anticipation of a bunch sprint for the finish line.

Caisse d’Epargne team leader Valverde managed to avoid the carnage and finished to retain his 31-sec lead over Dutchman Robert Gesink in the overall standings.

The overall top five remained unchanged with Spain’s Olympic road race champion Samuel Sanchez, of Euskaltel, in third at 1:10, Italian Ivan Basso fourth at 1:28 and Cadel Evans of Australia fifth at 1:51.

Valverde, who has never won a major three-week Tour, is now expected to keep a tight grip on the gold jersey until the potential decider – the penultimate stage time trial over 26km in Toledo on Saturday.

The three-week race, the third major Tour of the year after the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, wraps up in Madrid on Sunday.

Stage & Overall Results

Photo by: CorVos Pro